Looking Closer
I’ve received some smashing entries in this contest, but there’s still time for you to enter. And remember, more than one entry will be a winner. What am I talking about? The Looking Closer Review Contest. Read more
I’ve received some smashing entries in this contest, but there’s still time for you to enter. And remember, more than one entry will be a winner. What am I talking about? The Looking Closer Review Contest. Read more
Today’s specials: HE STAYED ON TARGET. Star Wars fans, it is a day to mourn. We’ve lost Porkins. He also had memorable roles in Raiders of the Lost Ark and A River Runs Through It. ONLY ONE FILM PER COUNTRY GETS TO PLAY The annually-screwed Foreign Language Oscar category has named its list of qualifying films for the year. As usual, each country only gets to submit one film for consideration. So, if the ten best films of the year were... Read more
I’m back from a bout with the flu, and a couple of days of recovery on beautiful Whidbey Island, surrounded by sun, surf, sand, and DEER… deer everywhere. I wanted to tell you about what I saw last week BEFORE falling ill… I rented two films on DVD that had striking similarities. They were both about men trying to cope with the deaths of their wives while raising two sons. Winter Solstice was one. Wonderful, meditative, beautifully filmed, and relatively... Read more
Today, Linford Detweiler posted some thoughts, with his usual eloquence, about a painful loss for him and for Karin Bergquist. Anyone who’s ever loved a pet will understand and sympathize. Read more
Thanks to Josh Hurst for bringing THIS to my attention. As is so often the case, Bono gets in some quotable stuff about his faith. Do you pray or have any religious practices? I try to take time out of every day, in prayer and meditation. I feel as at home in a Catholic cathedral as in a revival tent. I also have enormous respect for my friends who are atheists, most of whom are, and the courage it takes... Read more
If I had to choose my all-time favorite television series, “Sports Night” would be on the short list with “Firefly,” due to the sensational characters developed by writer Aaron Sorkin. The DVDs are available, and well-worth tracking down, even if you aren’t a sports fan. Thus, I cheered when Darren Hughes alerted me to this, a new Sorkin-scripted show that takes place in the same kind of environment as Sports Night… only this time, the characters are the staff and... Read more
FINALLY the Pope’s official photographer reveals the legendary photograph of Pope John Paul II wearing Bono’s shades. Read more
Today’s specials: Peter T. Chattaway has been threatening to write an article about just how much pagan mythology is scattered throughout The Chronicles of Narnia, and I hope he does it. There has been a lot written about why Narnia is “good” and Harry Potter’s world is “bad,” but the situation isn’t nearly that simple. There are so many similarities between the two series, and I think Chattaway’s going to highlight that for us one of these days. At least,... Read more
One of my favorite writers, Kathleen Norris (Amazing Grace, The Cloister Walk, Dakota), has just completed the preparation of a volume of 119 unreleased poems by another of my favorite writers … Thomas Merton. This is fantastic news. The Sign of Jonas, Raids on the Unspeakable, New Seeds of Contemplation… Merton’s meditative works have become some of my favorite reading over the last few years. Who knew that, so many years since his death, we’d suddenly get a whole new... Read more
It’s Narnia day at Looking Closer. The first of many to come, I’m sure. Don’t miss GetReligion‘s great blog entry on how a non-story is becoming a big story… Warning! Children reading classic books! And by the way… a follow-up note to my previous post about Philip Pullman‘s claim* that The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is devoid of any Christian virtue. *(How Pullman can say that with a straight face utterly astounds me — I’ve always been a... Read more
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